I had to change my diet to improve health. Nobody told me to go vegan or to eat a plant-based diet. I did my own research over time, tested different foods on myself (and removed a lot too) and noticed positive changes in my health (severe chronic eczema, digestive issues, food allergies/allergic reactions).

Some different vegan proteins: Beans, nuts and pumpkin seeds.

2) Do it Gradually: Rome wasn’t built in a day, so don’t expect to overhaul your deeply engrained eating habits overnight. Just make 1 small change per day, every day and watch how much progress you can make in 1 month! Drop by drop fills the bucket.

If you are a visual person (like me) and get motivation from seeing written achievements, write down on your calendar (or wherever) the days you added fruit/veggies/a vegetarian meal (optional suggestion)

Are you an ice cream addict? No problem. Try non-dairy, coconut based frozen treats or make ‘nice cream’ (made from frozen bananas) at home in your food processor

Veggie soup!

3) Variety is the spice of life: Delve into other cuisine types to delight your taste buds. If you’re not already a food adventurer…now is a good time to start! Go check out Mexican, Thai, East Indian, Caribbean and Mediterranean foods to begin with. They all have delicious plant-based options to choose from. There’s more and more American cuisine options available now that are plant-based such as burgers, hot dogs and pizza.

Vegetarian burger.

4) Be patient and gentle with yourself: You will encounter setbacks at some point. It’s part of the process of change. Don’t beat yourself up because it won’t help you in your journey. Just take it day by day. And if you really do take my advice and make one small change per day, you can really crush the transition period.

5) Health benefits: More energy, weight loss and minimal effort weight maintenance, anti-inflammatory effect on your body, anti-aging clearer mind, better mood, improved digestive health to name a few. The renowned Mayo Clinic in the U.S.A wrote about the benefits of a plant-based diet here.

It’s much easier to lose weight (and keep it off), have lots of energy and look amazing by eating a plant based diet or a vegan. You can eat way more food, yet have far less headaches with your health than with eating processed foods.

Always do a bit of research on your own to find out more info about new eating and lifestyle methods you aim to embark on.

Remember that it is still possible to be unhealthy eating a vegan, or gluten-free diet if you are eating a lot of processed foods and are lacking nutrients. Plants is where it’s at!

Let me know if this information was helpful to you. Leave a comment below letting me know where you are at in your dietary adventure (examples: You’re thinking about it? Just starting? Already doing it? You are way advanced? Never happening? lol). If you have questions perhaps I can help 🙂

Really great post. Very helpful. I’m going plant-based in January for health reasons. I done it and really noticed a difference. Sadly I went back to my naughty ways. I’m vegetarian so not to naughty but still not what I wanted to be.

Hi HowlinBooks! Thanks for leaving a comment! :# I’m happy you found this post helpful. High-five for going plant-based in January again! And, it’s all good regarding going back to your naughty ways, we all fall off the tracks in various areas in life at some point. It’s all about getting back up after being knocked down. Don’t beat yourself up, we are all on our own journey. It’s part of the process of making a life change. I wish you loads of luck next month, you will rock the pants off of that plant-based diet! :# You will crush it!

Thanks so much! 🙂 Thank you for visiting and thanks for the kind words! 🙂 Welcome to the WordPress world, we’re neighbors now, lol! And about growing up vegetarian, that’s awesome! Being vegetarian can definitely make it easier to transition to going vegan (at least that’s what I found). High five for being vegan for 2 years! How has your body reacted to it? Do you feel better overall? Did you have any bumps in the road going vegan? Because it’s definitely a learning process. Thanks again for visiting, neighbor 🙂

Yes for me the transition was quite easy as I grew up vegetarian so I had a love for so many foods that were vegan! I definitely think it made the transition to veganism very easy! I think the thing for me was to focus on the things I could eat not the things I “couldn’t” and really embrace cooking! I LOVE cooking and baking and making yummy, healthy food 🙂 I felt 100x better after going vegan and found surprising benefits i was not expecting such as increased energy, reduced bloating and loss of cramps (at that time, you know!). I haven’t really had any bumps but definitely face some judgement. How about you? 🙂
oh, and thanks for the welcome!

I’m glad your transition was easy. Focusing on what you can eat vs what you can’t eat is definitely key. It can be challenging at first when you totally change the foods you’re used to eating, plus animal byproducts are in many items, so it’s tricky. Your results are awesome (increased energy, reduced bloating, etc) and I think there’s nothing more fantastic than a positive ripple effect happening as a result one main action. For me, my transition was easy because it was a natural process that happened over years (normal, vegetarian, vegan). I did it for health reasons (severe chronic eczema since childhood) and I’ve had food allergies since childhood too. Many years ago, after experiencing much disappointment with doctors/dermatologists and their drug prescribing ways, I proceeded to do a lot of research by myself, about holistic health methods/acidity vs alkalinity in the body/cleanses/parasite infestation/colon irrigation/inflammation in the body/stress’s effect on health/the effect of diet on health, etc. I took action to make more changes in my life. Mind you, I have never had a ‘normal’ diet due to food allergies (some are life threatening), so I’m used to reading food labels/ingredients. Also, I first went to and herbalist for alternative treatment of my eczema as a child and he put me on a very restricted diet that was really difficult to handle as a child. I don’t miss meat products because I found my substitutes. The gluten-free aspect of my diet still is difficult for me because many GF items don’t taste great. Yes, I’m plant-based in my diet (because a person can still eat lots of processed food and be unhealthy as a vegan or vegetarian), but variety is VERY important. When I want something different to eat, I want something different to eat, lol! So, dealing with a restricted diet can makes things very challenging, but I do my best. What can I say, gluten products just taste damn good, lol (waffles, pancakes, breads, etc). Gluten-free items are still evolving. So, all that being said, my blog was born from a genuine place. I’m not jumping on the vegan band-wagon, I’ve been dabbling in this kind of alternative stuff before it was ‘cool’ because my quality of life depended on it. And, you’re welcome for the ‘welcome’ 🙂

wow yes, I appreciate that would be difficult with the extra food allergies! Do you eat a lot of raw fruits and vegetables? I have had a friend heal their eczma through a high raw diet. Yes, as i grew up with a very open minded mum and dad i have been dabbling in this stuff “before it was cool” too 🙂 mum let me go vegetarian at a very young age and my dad was into reflexology and lots of natural herbal medicines. I inherited my dads books when he passed away and there are lots of very amazing books of alternative medicine and alternative thinking. Its actually quite sad that it is referred to as “alternative” as Ayurvedic medicine and chinese herbal medicines are some of our oldest forms. The traditional western way of medicine is to “bandaid” and to give a releif but not a cure. It’s all about getting more money and prescribing things that require the patient to come back for more and be dependent on the system. No one makes money off kale and herbs. I think, although the age of technology is a curse in many ways, we are lucky in the way we all have access to a lot of information and are able to make informed decisions 🙂
i am glad i found your page 🙂

I can eat certain fruits raw. Some I’m allergic to, and others I stay away from because they are inflammatory to my eczema (example: citrus fruits). Same type of deal with veggies. Veggies are more alkaline and anti-inflammatory to the body, so I try to eat raw veggies regularly to mix it up instead of eating steamed or lightly blanched veggies. Raw foods are better for digestive health. Digestive health plays a role in eczema and food allergies (and many other common illnesses that most people wouldn’t even suspect), so that’s my reasoning. You’re blessed that your parents were so open and into you being vegetarian, as well as your dad being into reflexology. I agree about Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine. I agree about western medicine. Yes, there’s great advances in certain aspects, but a big chunk of the profits are in pharmaceuticals and the people who need them for their ailments….many of which are caused by poor lifestyle choices. There is no profit in healthy people, just like there’s no profit in people who don’t have any personal debt. I’m glad you were authentically into this type of stuff too for a long time 🙂 All the info people have access to is a blessing to educate themselves. I’m glad we connected too, my blogging sister! 🙂

Thanks so much, Alice! 😀 And, you’re welcome 🙌🏽 Thank you for stopping by, thank you for reading and thank you for commenting! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 I’m very happy you got something out of this blog post – mission accomplished! 😎🌿